The Conservation Trust will purchase the parcel labeled “Barba Family Real Estate Trust.” CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
HCT Development, a subsidiary of the Harvard Conservation Trust, has entered a purchase and sale agreement to acquire the house and 2.5 acres at 23 Still River Road, formerly the residence of Mario and Josephine Barba, completing a land acquisition begun nearly 20 years ago. Together with adjacent parcels acquired in 1996 and 1997, the trust will control more than 18 acres in the town center that could be well suited for a senior housing development.
The trust began negotiations with former Selectman Mario Barba in the 1980s; the sale of 18-plus acres known to pond users as “Barba Point” was completed in December 1997. As part of the terms of the land sale, the trust was given right of first refusal on the sale of the house, if ownership was ever transferred from the Barba family.
According to Larry Finnegan, a founding trustee who was involved in the multi-year negotiations, Barba was approached several times by buyers interested in his land, one of whom wanted to build an eight-bedroom waterfront mansion. Barba, however, felt strongly that the property should be developed in some way to address the town’s need for senior housing and wanted to work with the trust toward that end, said Finnegan.
In October 1996, a year before the Barba acquisition, the trust purchased the Terry–Oyler property of 16.04 acres at 21 Still River Road, between the Barba property and the Catholic church. Eight months later, the trust sold the Terry–Oyler house plus 2 acres (now owned by Jay and Marie Fagan) and kept the remaining 14-plus acres for conservation purposes.
In December 1998 the trust sold lot D (a combination of Barba and Terry–Oyler land) to the town of Harvard (based on a vote at the March 1998 Annual Town Meeting), which consisted of 16.83 acres for town conservation land, and kept the remaining 15.73 acres for a possible senior housing development. Placing lot D in conservation preserved, undisturbed, more than 1,200 feet of pond frontage across from the town beach.
For several years, the trust’s housing committee worked to develop plans, but difficult access from Willow Road led the trust to suspend planning in 2002, noting that the plans could be revisited if access from Still River Road ever became possible. In June 2008, the Barba family put the house on the market, and in February a buyer made an offer, triggering the trust’s option to step in and replace the purchaser. At a meeting last week, the trust voted unanimously to do so, and this week, the new purchase and sale agreement was executed. Closing is scheduled to take place by March 19.
According to trust President Victor Normand, the trust has made no decisions about future plans for the property, but he expected that a committee would be constituted to explore possibilities.
